Amongst the bustling 24-hour shopping district of South Korea's capital city, Zaha Hadid has completed a 38,000-square-metre cultural complex with a twinkling aluminium facade (+ movie).

Inaugurated on Friday, the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) by Zaha Hadid Architects provides Seoul with a hub for art, design and technology, plus a landscaped park that serves as a much-needed green oasis, and a public plaza linking the two.

The building features a shapely facade made up of 45,000 aluminium panels of varying sizes and curvatures. This was achieved using advanced 3-dimensional digital construction services, making DDP the first public building in Korea to utilise the technology.

Described by the designers as "a field of pixilation and perforation patterns", the backlit facade is speckled with minute perforations that allow the building to transform from a solid entity by day into an animated light show by night.

"The design integrates the park and plaza seamlessly as one, blurring the boundary between architecture and nature in a continuous, fluid landscape," said Zaha Hadid Architects in a statement.

The complex is made up of eight storeys, of which four sit above ground level and four are set below the plaza. Facilities include exhibition galleries, convention and seminar rooms, a design museum, and a library and education centre.

Voids puncturing the surface of the park offer a look down into the spaces below, and also allow daylight to permeate the building.

The building opened on 21 March to mark the start of Korean Fashion Week, but is also hosting five art and design exhibitions, alongside a collection of Korean art from the Kansong Art Museum.

The DDP has been designed as a cultural hub at the centre of Dongdaemun, a historic district of Seoul that is now renowned for its 24-hour shopping and cafes. DDP is a place for people of all ages; a catalyst for the instigation and exchange of ideas and for new technologies and media to be explored. The variety of public spaces within DDP include Exhibition Halls, Convention Halls, Design Museum, Library, Lab and Archives, Children's Education Centre, Media Centre, Seminar Rooms and Sky Lounge; enabling DDP to present the widest diversity of exhibitions and events that feed the cultural vitality of the city.

The DDP is an architectural landscape that revolves around the ancient city wall and cultural artefacts discovered during archaeological excavations preceding DDP's construction. These historic features form the central element of DDP's composition; linking the park, plaza and city together.

The design is the very specific result of how the context, local culture, programmatic requirements and innovative engineering come together - allowing the architecture, city and landscape to combine in both form and spatial experience - creating a whole new civic space for the city.

The DDP Park is a place for leisure, relaxation and refuge - a new green oasis within the busy urban surroundings of Dongdaemun. The design integrates the park and plaza seamlessly as one, blurring the boundary between architecture and nature in a continuous, fluid landscape. Voids in the park's surface give visitors glimpses into the innovative world of design below, making the DDP an important link between the city's contemporary culture, emerging nature and history.

The 30,000 square metre park reinterprets the spatial concepts of traditional Korean garden design: layering, horizontality, blurring the relationship between the interior and the exterior – with no single feature dominating the perspective. This approach is further informed by historic local painting traditions that depict grand visions of the ever-changing aspects of nature.

DDP encourages many contributions and innovations to feed into each other; engaging the community and allowing talents and ideas to flourish. In combination with the city's exciting public cultural programs, DDP is an investment in the education and inspiration of future generations.

DDP's design and construction sets many new standards of innovation. DDP is the first public project in Korea to implement advanced 3-dimensional digital construction services that ensure the highest quality and cost controls. These include 3-dimensional Building Information Modelling (BIM) for construction management and engineering coordination, enabling the design process to adapt with the evolving client brief and integrate all engineering requirements.

These innovations have enabled the team building DDP to control the construction with much greater precision than conventional processes and improve efficiencies. Implementing such construction technologies make DDP one of Korea's most innovative and technological advanced constructions to date.

DDP opens to the public on 21 March 2014 by hosting Korean Fashion Week. DDP will also host five separate design and art exhibitions featuring works by modern designers as well as the prized collection of traditional Korean art of the Kansong Art Museum.

Related movie:

This movie by Zaha Hadid Architects shows proposals to convert an old textile factory in Belgrade, Serbia, into a free-flowing complex of apartments, offices and leisure facilities. Larger version + story »

The form looks fantastic. Like the Aquatic centre and Aliyev the workmanship makes a huge contribution. My only negative is that I’m not sure how well it will perform with anything of substance inside it. I think the minimalism and flowing form might be a bit confusing for navigating too.

terrordome

Pictures 4 and 5 with the lone human in it looks frightening!

Daniel L

When will this stop?

zee

The haters are sleeping ;)

http://www.designadam.com Adam

How does one condense such architectural amazement into one Dezeen comment?

JMA

Simply brilliant. As mentioned above, the craftsmanship really takes this to another level. Great detailing.

Derek_V

You mean the jealous complaining?

Concerned Citizen

Ya seen one blob, ya seen ’em all *Yawn

Antonio Monserrat

Ya seen one box, ya seen ’em all *Yawn

Julie G

I agree. It looks quite oppressive, like the early 60’s Government monoliths in D.C. I would not want to be walking under one of those overhangs during an earthquake. Or any time, really. They scare me.

Anthony

Woosh! Woosh! Woosh! Where am I going? Where am I? What time is it? I can’t stand still – must keep moving… why?

KW

Stop doing weeds.

http://be.net/bassel Bassel

This building nicely blends with it’s surroundings, which must be a first for a Zaha design!

Ablo

A great addition to Seoul. At night it’s magical.

jara1000

WOW. It’s construction is so great! I heard that the local architect played a very big role to realise it fantastic. Was it SAMOO Architects in Seoul?

JS

This is a kind of design that works in the middle of a dessert. Not in a vibrant, notorious market place like Dongdaemoon. I find this design completely disrespectful of the surrounding culture and landscape.

Joaquin Vaquero

Zaha continues imposing her formal obsession to the needs of society and to the meaning of architecture. This is not the future, this is not a responsible and compromise architectural solution. Too expensive and too unnecessary curved walls.

James Briano

Hadid competing with Gehry for the title: Most Overrated Contemporary Architect.

Steve_Lamb

I always have mixed feelings about her work. In every one of her buildings there are pieces that seem to really work, but overall not so much.

I also have problems with her always removed from nature palettes and there always seems to be an uncomfortable juxtaposition between her blobs and various ridged geometric structures that seem to serve no purpose. The craftsmanship on the building is wonderful and clearly the interpenetrations of light in what appears to be a solid is an idea derived from Frank Lloyd Wright’s textile blocks and the roof of John Lautner’s Goldman/Sheets house.

Jack O’Keeffe

I’m not typically a fan of Zaha’s work, I always seem to find it too random. However, I find this really, really interesting. I love the zig-zag protrusion on the walls to allow seating and the facade works brilliantly with the concrete.

ud

Why local architects’ role is not mentioned?

Erin

Boring. Her work is all pretty much the same. Her submission for Melbourne’s Flinders Street Station was pretty much the same. None of her designs seem to take anything from the social context within which it will sit, just the structural lines or needs for (sleek, metallic, round edged) transit paths.

This speaks just as much about Korean culture, society or people as the Melbourne one did about Melburnian (or Australian) people, culture and society. Which is nothing. Why do people love it so much other than it doesn’t require you to think much about the diversity or patina of human beings or cultures at all. Which I guess is pretty awesome if you find that kind of thing too varied and tiring to do in your work.

Antonio Monserrat

Sure it’s not the future, it’s the present. Curved walls? Go there, experience it and you will see how it becomes a space for celebration. Korean’s might have never experienced anything like it before.